1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a field emission display and, more particularly, to a method of forming emitter tips on the field emission display.
2. Description of the Related Art
The manufacture and use of field emission displays is well known in the art. The resolution of a field emission display is a function of a number of factors, including emitter tip sharpness.
One current approach toward the creation of an array of emitter tips is to use a mask to form the emitter tip structure, in which the mask is stripped from the apex of the emitter tip structure prior to etching the tip to sharpness. It is necessary to terminate the etch when or before the mask is fully undercut to prevent the mask from being dislodged from the apex. However, under such circumstances, the tips become lopsided and uneven due to the presence of the mask material along the side of the tip during a dry etch. Also, this may degrade the apex of the emitter tip structure. Moreover, this dislodged mask results in randomly placed and undesired structures. Furthermore, if the etch is continued after the mask is removed, the tips become more dull because the etch chemicals remove material in all directions to attack the exposed apex the tip. In addition, the apex of the tip may be degraded when the mask has been dislodged due to physical ion bombardment during a dry etch.
Accordingly, one solution is to stop the etching process before a fine point is formed at the apex of the tip. An oxidation step is then performed to sharpen the tip. However, since this creates a non-uniform etching across the array, the tips then have different heights and shapes.
In the manufacture of emitter tips, the tips should be of uniform height, aspect ratio, sharpness, and general shape with minimal deviation, particularly in the uppermost portion. In one approach used to overcome the illustrated problems, a mask is formed over the substrate before etching begins wherein the mask has a composition and dimensions that enable it to remain balanced on the apex of the tips until all the tips are substantially formed as the same shape. Nevertheless, the uniformity of the mask cannot always be guaranteed and slipping of the mask onto the substrate still occurs, thus there are still problems with the balancing of the mask on the apex of the tips.